Principles for Post-Election Audits: Putting It All Together Panel 7 Saturday, October 27

Principles for Post-Election Audits: Where Do We Go From Here? What have we learned? –election auditing is in its infancy & evolving rapidly –many points of agreement e.g., it’s difficult to put statistics into legislative language –some more controversial ideas e.g., responsibility for audits should be independent Transparency! –it’s good for election officials as well as the public Building Public Confidence –expecting routine problems & variations/descrepancies

What needs to be done? to help spread the election auditing gospel to gain more cooperation from election officials to build information & infrastructure to provide foundations for good legislation

Possible Follow-on Activities Post-Summit Working Groups Information Sharing Web Information Resources Research Coordination Policy Development Individual State Meetings (ala this Summit)

Possible Post-Summit Working Groups Table of State Auditing Laws, Administrative Rules, and Current Developments Glossary of Election Auditing Terms Web Archive of Auditing Documents & Forms Model Auditing Standards & Legislation Election Auditing Training Materials Data Collection Instrument Design Statistical Sampling and Measurement

Information Resources & Sharing More Face to Face Meetings –Another National Election Auditing Summit? –State-specific meetings? Web Sites list servers Wiki's for sharing files & collaborative editing On-line Bibliographies & Resource lists On-line & Spreadsheet Audit Calculators

Election Auditing Summit Meetings in Selected Individual States? Bring together similar mix of local and state election officials, statisticians, computer scientists, and election integrity advocates. PLUS selected others from other states –(some via remote videoconference if necessary) Hold in state capitol so key legislators and their staff can participate

Other Venues to Spread the Word National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) National Association of County Recorders, Election Officials and Clerks (NACRC) [schedules meetings in conjunction with National Association of Counties (NACo) conferences] International Association of Clerks, Recorders, Election Officials and Treasurers (IACREOT) [splintered from NACRC in 1960's) Others?

Data Collection Specify what kinds of data are needed – precinct-level, by contest, equipment, type of voting Develop standard forms for gathering data –Election equipment –Auditing & vote counting procedures –Detailed audit cost components –Etc. Collect existing forms, training materials, etc.

Promising Research Areas Sampling methods to improve efficiency –(statisticians, computer scientists) Counting methods for accuracy & efficiency –(statisticians, industrial psychologists) How to change norms for election auditing –(administrative behaviorists, industrial psychologists)

Infrastructure Policy Development Public access to data Transparency across all levels of voting process Election tabulation & auditing rules & legislation –stay tuned for Panel 8!